How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

PSALMS 62:3KJV
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Psalms 62:3 (KJV)

What does Psalms 62:3 mean?

Psalms 62:3 addresses people who are plotting harm against one man. The speaker challenges their continuing hostility and declares that they will be brought down, comparing them to a wall or fence that is already leaning and ready to fall.

The question “How long?” gives the speaker’s words a sharp sense of protest. After speaking of his confidence in God in verse 2, the speaker turns directly to his opponents. The images of a bowing wall and a tottering fence picture a structure that can no longer stand securely.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 62:3

  • “mischief” — הוּת (hut): This word is often understood as plotting an attack or bringing harm. “Mischief” here suggests something more serious than a harmless prank.
  • “fence” — גָּדֵר (gader): The word can mean a stone wall or enclosure. The image is of a boundary structure that has become unstable, rather than necessarily a fence made of wood.

Why Psalms 62:3 matters

  • The threat is directed at one person by a group. The contrast between “a man” and “all of you” brings out the unequal numbers.
  • The opponents’ apparent strength is challenged by the picture of their collapse. In the KJV, “ye shall be slain” addresses the attackers, and the leaning wall and fence describe them.
  • The accusation involves more than open force. Verse 4 speaks of people who bless with their mouths but inwardly curse, adding deception to the picture of their hostility.

Where else these words appear

“tottering” Hebrew H1760 · used in 10 verses

  • Psalms 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
  • Psalms 140:4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
  • Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

“fence” Hebrew H1447 · used in 11 verses

  • Numbers 22:24 But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
  • Ecclesiastes 10:8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
  • Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

“slain” Hebrew H7523 · used in 40 verses

  • Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
  • Numbers 35:30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
  • Joshua 21:27 And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two cities.

“wall” Hebrew H7023 · used in 64 verses

  • Exodus 30:3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
  • 1 Kings 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
  • Ezekiel 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.